


Death Doesn't Rest

by DancingSkys



Series: Zombie AU [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombies, Apocalypse, Bilingual Lance (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Keith & Shiro (Voltron) are Siblings, M/M, Sniper Lance (Voltron), Zombie Apocalypse, Zombies, at least on the zombies' side, it's a zombie au so there is mention of blood and gore and so on, keith throws knives, some more klance development, the zombies won't let them rest, there is death in the title but don't let that scare you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-23 10:12:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19148950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DancingSkys/pseuds/DancingSkys
Summary: The team has been together for a little over a week now and Lance was slowly getting the hang of having other people around him again. It took some adjusting but he now refrained from immediately taking out every single zombie by himself. It saved him a lot of bullets when one of the others took it upon themselves to get rid of those pests.Not only that but he had the feeling they were slowly getting closer. It was nice to have others around him to talk to and depend on. If it weren't for those annoying zombies always ruining every single minute of peace.





	Death Doesn't Rest

**Author's Note:**

> As promised, here is another part for this series. I have some more ideas but nothing written just yet so we'll see where the journey goes.

 

“Are you originally from America?”

Lance looked up at Pidge, momentarily halting in checking his rifle. There wasn’t much use in trying to clean it. He kept it as clean as he possibly could and did wipe of anything that could damage it but it still looked a little beat up. It wasn’t anything in comparison to his knee and elbow pads though. His shirt also had several holes and a steadily increasing amount of stains on it. Finding new clothes wasn’t completely impossible but finding things he liked and that fit properly, that was a challenge. Perhaps now wasn’t the time to be picky but Lance wasn’t desperate enough to wear just anything yet. When he found something he liked he’d stick with it for quite a while. Currently that was a pair of olive green camo shorts and a beige shirt a bit lighter than his skin. The material was a little thicker but had still acquired several holes by now. The pants were great because of the many pockets and Lance wasn’t about to wear any longer ones.

Some might think the small layer of extra protection was good but not for Lance. He had always been a shorts-wearer and it was hot in Texas. A pair of pants would not stop a zombie from nibbling on his leg anyway so he didn’t bother. His pads protected his knees and elbows just fine and his boots were high as well. Nothing to worry about except for stupid tan lines. How Keith survived with his long black pants in the heat was beyond him. Though they did make his legs look great, he had to admit that. He might even stare every now and then.

“The U.S. you mean?” Lance asked. He had always found it incredibly funny that almost everyone - especially Americans (hah!) - referred to the United States as America. America was the whole continent but somehow they had adopted that as their name and everyone went with it. There was America and then the other places. Still he liked to clarify because America was the continent after all even when he could guess what Pidge had meant. 

Pidge nodded their head and Lance hummed. He fiddled with the setting of his scope, turning it up and then back down again. “No, not originally. You’ve got a real Cuban citizen in front of you.” He said this easily with a smile on his face. He had been ridiculed for his heritage for most of his life but he had figured that during the apocalypse no one cared anymore. Besides, he was allowed to be proud of his ethnicity as well. Keith and Shiro looked Asian and had no problems fitting into the group. It should be the same for him. Maybe none of them were actually American’s, Lance wasn’t sure but everyone could be from anywhere. The U.S. was a melting pot of different ethnicities after all.

“Oh, really?” Matt asked. Lance was sure he and everyone had been listening since they were all sitting so close to one another. He didn’t mind though. If he had he wouldn’t have shared it in the first place. Besides, he did look Hispanic so he wasn’t too surprised about the question. He had expected it sooner or later and was more than used to it. It had gotten better with his improving English skills but people still liked to ask. Humans were naturally curious and he always gave them the benefit of the doubt in the sense that he assumed they didn’t have an ill intentions when they asked. 

Maybe asking these questions meant they were slowly getting closer. Lance was still the newest addition to the group. It was only natural that they weren’t all best buddies after just a week. It did feel like they worked well together and it felt nice to be asked some questions. Conversations like these made it a little easier to ignore the world falling apart around them. He hadn't shared anything about himself with anyone for a long time. Except for his plush squirrel but Leo didn’t exactly count. He was good company because he never complained but he also never answered in general so… there was that.

Lance hummed again, adjusting the scope to his standart distance. Not too far, not to close - somewhere in the middle grounds. It was the best way to always be prepared. “Yup, came here when I was ten. You think they’re gonna throw me out of the country because they think I might be an illegal immigrant?” 

“An illegal immigrant in the zombie apocalypse, gods forbid,” Keith muttered before taking a bite out of his granola bar. It was a chocolate one and Lance was pretty jealous. Though he wondered if Keith would suffer because of some potential dairy. If he did, he probably wouldn’t care. His first assumption had actually turned out to be true. Keith was indeed lactose intolerant and he didn’t give a shit about consuming dairy. Not that there was currently much around but before he had eaten ice cream straight from the container without a care in the world. Lance could understand why Shiro had started getting grey hair at such an early age.

“I highly doubt they even have the records anymore,” Shiro said. “The zombies might be illegal immigrants as well. Who knows?”

Imagining the zombies as illegal immigrant trying to get into the country through customs made them suddenly a lot funnier than they actually were. 

“Such a shame, we should have built a wall. Bet they all came from Mexico,” Keith deadpanned around a mouthful of granola bar and everyone snorted. If you’d ask the last president of the United States, he’d probably be convinced of that. Lance hoped he had been chewed up by zombies but he wasn’t sure. There wasn’t much brain to eat after all.

“They’d dig a way underneath,” Allura huffed. She was redoing the braid she usually kept her hair in. It was the most glorious hair Lance had ever seen and he had no idea how Allura managed to keep it in such a good condition. It was smart to braid it though, wouldn’t want a zombie pulling on your hair or having some bones stuck in there. Might have been fashionable back in the day but it wasn’t exactly a recurring fashion trend. “Or they would chew through the wall.”

“All because of some delicious brain, gotta give it to them; they are dedicated to what they do,” Lance sniffed with fake sentiment. The thought was honestly terrifying because he was certain even a wall of steel and concrete wouldn’t stop those rotting corpses but they tried to make light of the situation. Drowning in these thoughts didn’t help anyway. It was better not to think about it too much and just continue forward. “I bet my brain is delicious.”

“Wanna try?” Keith dared with a smirk, juggling a knife in one hand. It was a habit he had and Lance wondered if he had been a professional knife thrower before this mess. He wouldn’t put it past Keith to have had a strange job like that.

Lance scoffed. “You, sir,” he pointed at Keith accusingly, “are not worthy of my beautiful brain.”

“I bet it’s half empty.”

“I take great offense. I’ll have you know there is a library in both Spanish and English in my brain.” Lance thought for a moment afterwards. “But if you gotta chew on something then please chew on the English and Math parts. I really don’t need those. They are confusing and stupid and caused me mental breakdowns when I was younger.” He remembered wailing because he just didn’t get Math or English. 7th to 10th grade had been hell but he had pulled through somehow. Math had been thrown away immediately after school but he had figured out you could watch series and read books and get better at English without sitting down and actually studying. This revelation had helped a lot with improving his skills. 

“You don’t wanna talk to us anymore?” Hunk sniffed. He was organizing some rations, making sure they hadn’t miscalculated. He was the one who kept an eye on them so no one else had to worry about it. Lance still had his own stash of nuts that he always stocked up. Simply because he couldn’t drop the habit of having to take care of himself on his own. Not that he didn’t trust the others, you could simply never know what would happen.

“I still have Spanish,” he said with a shrug.

“That doesn’t help me.” Hunk threw a small rock towards Lance feet like a fussy child. 

“And some basic ASL. Middle school was good for something.” It was almost comical that Lance had been better at picking up ASL than English. He didn’t remember a lot of words anymore but he could probably string together some basic sentences and understand quite a bit.

“Also doesn’t help me,” Hunk complained. “Keep the English part please.”

“We could all learn military signals.” Lance demonstrated a few sloppy ones he had seen in movies and Shiro looked very amused before he sighed wistfully. “Haven’t used those in forever.”

Lance perked up excitedly. “Oh, you know these things?”

Shiro smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, I was in the army for a while. Didn’t stay long after the initial trial phase though.”

“I knew you were the cooler brother.”

A knife lodged itself into the ground next to Lance’s knee. He knew if Keith wanted to he would have hit his target dead centre. He had seen him nail a zombie in the head from a lot further away than this. It was kinda a turn on if Lance had to be honest. Still he pouted at Keith. “You want me to throw a gun at your head? You want the small or the big one? You can choose.”

“As if you could hit.” Keith sent him that stupid ass smirk that was both annoying and terribly attractive. Lance still couldn’t believe he was gravitating towards Keith in such a manner. The most annoying and most handsome - let’s be honest, Shiro was a god and he was hot but he wasn’t Keith - out of the bunch. Lance didn’t know what exactly he should do with these feelings and those sudden thoughts of ‘I bet he looks even better without his shirt’ that floated through his head. He had managed to ignore them for the most part but he couldn’t deny staring at Keith while he hacked his way through zombies from time to time. It was very distracting, okay? Besides, there were edges of a tattoo peeking out from underneath his tank top whenever he removed his jacket and Lance couldn’t help but stare at the black ink. 

Keith might come off as a gruff cactus but he was more of a… hedgehog. Pet his spikes in the right direction and they were harmless. He was wary of people and pessimistic but Lance couldn’t hold it against him. The world was against them so optimism was hard to come by. He was sure Keith had his reasons for being so gruff and distrusting. Besides, once he accepted someone to be around him he warmed up pretty quickly. He still acted like a hot-head and irrational sometimes but that was just him being himself. Lance could adjust to those things without problem and it seemed Keith appreciated Lance being able to keep up with him.

“Wanna try?” Lance raised his rifle above his head with both hands. Obviously he would never throw his rifle if he didn't have to, he wasn't stupid. It was tempting though. Just to see the look on Keith’s face.

Allura told them to stop being childish but Lance had focused onto something else. He furrowed his brows, ignoring the others around him. Was he hallucinating or was there actually moving something in the distance? Such a long time of being alone had made him all the more perceptive to small movements in an otherwise motionless environment.

Without thinking he cocked the charging handle of his rifle to make sure the new magazine was charged - just in case he needed to shoot immediately - and aimed over Keith's shoulder to see what was going on. He was so used to doing this that sometimes he forgot that the others didn’t suddenly stop in the middle of walking and dropped down to shoot something. Before he never had to explain his almost obsessive behavior with his scope but now he always reported back whether he had seen something or not. Often it was nothing and he continued a conversation like nothing had happened. Other times he remained still like a statue for almost three minutes before finally shooting a zombie that had been hiding behind a corner. The group had needed a little while to adjust to this and having to wait for Lance to come back from his focus-zone but appreciated his efforts. With him they could scout the area to some degree, the could take out threats before they even turned into serious dangers. Lance was always happy to help and had even taken some time to teach Hunk how to use his own gun. It wasn’t like they were super busy all the time when they weren’t killing zombies. 

“Lance,” Pidge huffed, still thinking he was messing with Keith who also looked a tiny bit unsure. It did look like Lance was aiming at him after all. Not that he thought the other would actually pull the trigger but still… an AR to the face wasn't exactly nice. Especially with the safety off. Meanwhile Lance was focusing on something entirely different. While his scope did help to scout the area it wasn’t like a 4k magnifying glass that showed everything crystal clear. It was also getting dark so the edges got more fuzze. He did, however, spot movement which wasn’t good. Not good at all.

Lance took a deep breath as he saw the rotting body of a zombie slowly dragging forward. The thing looked so much closer through the scope, he had to remind himself of the magnifying effect and the distance between them. “So, we got one straggler over there,” he said, not even looking away from the dark figure. He didn’t want to loose sight of the zombie and he was sure it was one since the movements were so jerky. “I could shoot it but that would be loud. It’s moving here but I don’t think it caught on yet so if we get going now we should be fine. It’s only one as far as I can tell.”

“We can’t even go one day without these nuisances,” Allura sighed tiredly, tying off her brain and throwing it over her shoulder. She was right, zombies always showed up at inconvenient times and you could never fully relax. Even when someone else was on the lookout there was still this underlying tenseness. Anything could go wrong at any moment. That was the world they were living in.

“The max I ever went was nine days on a rooftop,” Lance said. “I keep telling you they are better. The also make me less anxious.” He hated the feeling of being trapped on the ground. Other people might feel more trapped on a rooftop but he felt free. He had taken to climbing things and cars now instead, just to have a little height. It helped with his sniping as well. You couldn't really shoot anything when there was something obscuring your view.

“Maybe for one they’re good but we gotta keep moving. Getting up and down would take too much time.” Shiro stood up and dusted off his pants. It was mostly a force of habit at this point. No amount of dusting off could actually make them even appear clean again. None of them looked actually clean. It was a state that simply couldn’t be attained anymore.

“I was just starting to wind down,” Pidge grumbled as they stood up as well. Matt slung an arm around his sibling’s shoulder and nuzzled their head. “Don’t worry, grumpy pants. We’ll find another spot. Wanna sleep in my arms tonight? Let big bro protect you?”

Pidge scowled and shoved their brother’s shoulder, the latter just laughing. They might actually take him up on the offer though. Because Pidge had almost lost their brother once and while they did bicker and bully one another they had a deep bond. The kind of sibling bond which would never be broken. Lance had heard the story of the initial trio - Keith, Shiro and Pidge - searching for Matt when this mess had first started. Thankfully they had found him only days later but those days must have been awful. Not only for Pidge but also for Shiro and Keith who had known the Holt siblings for years. 

“Somewhere with breakfast inclusive please,” Hunk groaned as he shoved everything into his backpack and got up onto his feet. “And a nice bed. I want a foam mattress and some nice blankets.”

“The luxury of a bed will be missed forever,” Allura agreed with a hum. 

“Don't complain. I'd rather live than sleep in a bed.” Keith picked up the knife he had thrown and attached it back to the strap around his tight. This guy could pull knives out of random places like a wizard pulling cards out of thin air. Lance was convinced he had at least seven in his boots alone.

“But breakfast,” Hunk insisted with a serious look. “Bacon and eggs and french toast and donuts and waffles… I'm making myself hungry.” He grimaced as if to shoo mental images of food out of his head. Hunk had loved to cook and bake before this mess but in the zombie apocalypse baking powder, brown sugar and a working oven wasn't exactly easy to find. Much less the time to actually do it. Lance would have loved to taste some of his creations because he was convinced whatever Hunk managed to whip up would be amazing. Worlds better than granola bars or canned beans. Heck, by now he'd be happy over soggy cereal. He might even be desperate enough to eat them with warm water.

Dios, that must taste disgusting.

“Does anyone know how to grow your own food?” Allura asked. “Because I also miss a few things. I’m craving potatoes. Like fries or just baked potatoes.”

First everyone turned to Shiro who raised his hands in defense. “I lived off of sushi and smoothies, I don't know anything.” Keith agreed with an unimpressed, “He really doesn’t. He’s a disaster in the kitchen and only knows how to work a blender properly.” Shiro seemed offended but didn’t deny it.

Next were Pidge and Matt who both shrugged. “Mom was a botanist but I don't know shit about that,” Matt admitted. “I was leaning more towards dad's space stuff.”

“Same.” Pidge shrugged again.

Everyone turned to Lance who was a little surprised. Did he look like someone who grew his own food? Did he have the vegan vibes? He frowned. “Uh… no? Why the heck would I know that?”

“Because you know a lot of random stuff and you are surprisingly good at this whole surviving thing,” Pidge pointed out, gesturing to the area around them vaguely.

Lance pouted because of the somewhat backhanded compliment before shrugging. “I think I know as much as anyone else, honestly. Like… we had some chickens and a few cows in Cuba but I don't know anything about food besides maybe what stuff you can eat. If anyone it should be Hunk.”

“I was an engineering student, not a gardener!” Hunk threw his hands up into the air in exasperation. “I know how to build a walkie talkie but I don’t know how to plant potatoes, thank you very much.” 

“I don't want to rush but I think that zombie started moving faster,” Matt said, now a bit of urgency in his voice.

Focus was back on the approaching zombie which now stumbled a lot faster than before. It had caught on to the scent of a tasty meal just standing around right ahead of it and was now in a hurry to get to it. Lance ached to just put a bullet in that thing's head but he'd only use his guns or AR when he needed to. One because he'd lose bullets and two because it was loud. It would attract more zombies which wasn't worth the trouble.

It seemed he wasn't the only one with itchy fingers tough because a knife whizzed through the air and lodged itself into the zombie’s shoulder before anyone else could make a plan of action. The force of it made it stumble and shriek but it continued on its pursuit, dragging broken legs over the ground. Keith tsked and jumped over the rubble, pulling his khopesh out and severing the zombie's head clean off without hesitation once he was close enough.

Lance had the mind to look away with a grimace. He had no problem with shooting, stabbing or crushing but heads rolling was still not something he wanted to see. It was disgusting. To have a head severed off with some sort of expression still present. Perhaps it was morbid, him having no problem to shoot those things but cutting off heads made him feel queasy. Keith didn't have that problem. He simply bent down to retrieve the knife he had thrown, completely ignoring the squelch and splash of rotting flesh. He did wipe it off before tucking it away so that was at least something. 

“Well, now I really don’t wanna stay here,” Pidge said and everyone agreed. Sleeping next to a fresh corpse and a detached head was not exactly a remedy for a peaceful night of sleep. They were already on edge all the time, you didn’t need more material for nightmares so they packed up the remainder of their belongings and got going, off to find a new corner they could spend the night in. Hopefully without disturbances this time. A single zombie was not much of a problem but it just added to the general unease all of them felt whenever they settled down.

“Nice throw,” Lance said once Keith was next to him, bumping the other’s shoulder. Keith’s smile was barely visible but it was there. 

“Thanks,” he said. They stayed close to one another, even when they found a good spot hidden behind a cluster of cars where they could still get away fast enough. Pidge went to sleep next to Matt which made the older of the two smile happily. It wasn’t unusual for them to stick close to one another. Allura decided to keep Shiro company for the night watch and Hunk was out like a light as soon as he laid down. Lance removed his guns and pads before settling down as well, his AR next to him like a body pillow. He wouldn’t say he was paranoid but… he was kind of paranoid.

“You got some more space over there?” Keith asked quietly in order not to disturb the others, hovering over him and Lance grinned. “Sure thing, just don’t disturb her majesty.” He patted the spot next to him invitingly. Keith snorted at the silly nickname Lance had given his rifle and settled down next to him. They weren’t exactly touching but their shoulders were incredibly close to one another and if Lance wiggled a little he could close that distance. He’d probably do it in his sleep anyway. 

None of them had actually said it before but it was nice to sleep next to someone. Keith wasn’t exactly touchy feely, not like Lance, but he seemed to feel comfortable enough around their sniper to relax next to him. Lance didn’t mind at all, he was more honored than anything. Even after just a week Keith had shifted from distrusting him to feeling incredibly comfortable around him. He wouldn’t push his luck too much though. If he wanted to cuddle he’d go to Hunk who was always down for some hugs and snuggles. It had probably improved Lance’s mental and physical health by a tenfold to be around people like this again. To actually have some human contact and to talk to other living beings. Looking at you, Leo. You’re a great squirrel but you’re not very talkative. 

Anyway, fact was that Keith was comfortable enough to sleep next to Lance and it made him happy even if they didn’t curl around one another in their sleep. They weren’t quite there yet but for now it was enough for Lance. Maybe at some point he’d get to hold Keith’s hand or something. No rush. They had time… if you disregarded the end of the world but they were talking about  _ romantic feelings _ here. 

When had those ever been stopped by something as silly as the apocalypse?

 

**Author's Note:**

> Do you like these small stories without much plot development? Would you like more of these?  
> Come talk to me if you'd like~ [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Dancing_Skys) [Tumblr](https://voltronskys.tumblr.com/)


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